Seems to me the best indication of 'when' for solids is when the baby seems
to want them, with the proviso (as another poster said) that this doesn't
mean when you can manage to shovel them in....

As well as the other drawbacks to early solids, I'd remind the list of the
wonderful Dundee study - the ongoing study looking at several hundred
mother and baby pairs as they grow - which reported on the effect of solids
in the BMJ of January 1 1998 (or it could be 1997 - sorry, can't check at
the moment). Their cut off line was 15 weeks, and they found that solids
before this time (in breast *and*  bottle fed babies BTW) was associated
with inc. risk of respiratory illness, high blood pressure and high body
fat at age 7.  They didn't look at allergy, though you could make a case to
say that  respiratory troubles include allergy.

It would have been impossible to do this analysis for any later than 15
weeks, I should add, because out of all their 100s of mother and baby
pairs, they would only have found a tiny number who gave solids later than
this : (

The recommendation in the UK is 4-6 months, but I know of very few mothers
who have delayed past 4 months. Our cultural norm, as shown in our stats,
is 3 months.  Many mothers are champing at the bit to give solids, even the
ones whose bf is going beautifully : (

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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